for you?" The pressure upon those
connected even by marriage to help relatives privately, and so reduce
public relief, is often very severe. In those of English ancestry the
disgrace of having a near relative, even so distant as a great-uncle
or great-aunt or sister-in-law, "come upon the town" is felt keenly.
The sacrifices of many people of limited means to prevent such a
catastrophe would make a long and heavy list of discomforts and
privations. The duty of brothers, sisters, and next of kin to help
provide for the poorer members of the family connection is thus still
held firmly by social ideals. That all people, however, pay this debt
of family responsibility or that as many struggle to do it as used to
do so cannot be affirmed. On the contrary, many charitable societies
make it a serious business to discover and hold to responsibility
shirking members of families in which there is great discrepancy in
financial condition.

There is now, however, no recognized social responsibility for giving
support to poorer members of the family within one household. There is
no pressure to bring those needing material relief tinder the roof of
the well-to-do of the family circle. Even parents cannot claim
residence with adult children, although they can claim by law some
support commensurate with their children's income. It is seen now that
the duty of aid does not carry with it the obligation for personal
association. That is, on the whole, a gain, especially in cases where
there is temperamental incompatibility.

The whole relationship of brothers, sisters, and next of kin is
simplified and placed more securely on bases of affection and ethical
ideal in modern life, and people are good brothers and sisters or good
family relatives in proportion as they are unselfish and useful in all
their other social relationships. There is a real family tie, however,
which still holds. We see it in the Family Reunions, in the listing of
relationships in those devoted to genealogy, and in the patriotic
societies that indicate by membership what ancestors fought in the
Revolution or held office in Colonial days. There is the permanent tie
of blood that makes a peculiar bond unlike that of friendship and
unlike that of marriage--a tie sometimes carried to extremes, as in
the case of the woman who, angry with her husband for a breach of
etiquette, declared she "was glad that he was no relation of hers!" On
the whole, in reasonable moderation